Britain's NASCAR hero: Britain's NASCAR hero

As career progressions go, Formula Ford to NASCAR doesn’t adhere to the normal convention. In fact, Daniel Boys had actually decided to pack it all in after getting nowhere in the starter open-wheeler formula, but as a last fling he went to the Pacific Northwest Coast of the States to do a day-long NASCAR training course – and got the bug.

Now Boys battles it out in a weekly NASCAR regional series and has ambitions to race in the Nextel Cup, NASCAR’s premier division as immortalised in the movies Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights.

As a Brit abroad competing in the most American of all motorsports, how do the Yanks treat Boys? ‘From my first run round at the Competitive Edge Racing School everyone was really friendly and supportive,’ says Boys from Aldershot. ‘They mocked my accent, sure, but thought it was fantastic that anyone would travel all that way to take part in their sport. Unlike in a lot of British motorsport, everyone I meet, including my race rivals, is very open and prepared to share tips and experience.’

While the internationally known races and circuits are where the glamour is, the weekly regional events are also very well supported by competitors and fans alike. According to Boys, it’s a curiously successful blend of grassroots amateurism and semi-pros who spend their lives on the road going from track to track, picking up starting money and winners’ prizes.

For the moment, Boys lives in the UK and travels over to the States for races when funds allow. He buys his drives on an ad hoc basis (previously with Lake Goodwin Motorsport but next season through Concept Racing) at a cost of about £2500 an event. To make his budget go further, he travels between races on Greyhound buses. To date he’s only done part-seasons, but is working towards a full season of 17-20 races.

How different is the racing? ‘The major races you see on the telly are on 1.5-mile banked circuits,’ explains Boys, ‘but the tracks in the minor series are on 0.4 to 0.6-mile ovals, or bullrings as they’re called. With a big field of varying talents, it means you’re soon mixed in with a bunch of cars all looking for the crucial line and inches apart.

‘When I first started I had to throw all my Formula Ford experience out of the window. Getting the line through a banked corner isn’t as easy as you’d think; you have to be high in the outside lane on the approach and then the apex is at the bottom of the banking. That may not sound difficult, but your entry speed has to be just right; you have to have a feel for what the car’s doing. You can’t just chuck the car into the bend and sort it out as you go through – I tried that once early on and had an enormous spin.

‘Because you can’t see much out of the car, you have to have spotters in the grandstands in radio contact. They’re your eyes, telling you what other cars are doing around you, whether you should go high or low, speed up or slow down. It’s real teamwork.’

Boys’ NASCAR campaign begins again when the new season starts next April. For more details visit www.danielboys.co.uk